This pose tends to zoink Elizabeth’s back, so it has been on the shelf for a bit. This weekend she was feeling tough and put in a few hours on Saturday. Today she gave her back a rest and sat in a chair with her hands linked so I could get that part a bit more resolved. It is now in a phase where it serves as a placeholder for what it should be, which is a big improvement from the phase it had been in.

I had to make due without the model this week, which turned out well as I went back to my measurements and found some glaring proportional issues. Once the figure was corrected, the set of digital images on loop were enough to move the piece over the aesthetic hump it had kept rolling back down. This week I’ll work from life with the model on her portrait, and refine the figure- then we will begin a new pose on the armature I built today, and I’ll let this one mature for awhile.

The model for this pose has held that ball in the air for about 6 hours in three sessions, and I’ve put in quite a bit more time than that with photos. This is a 1/3 life size sculpture, and one of the more difficult poses I’ve attempted. The raised foot tilts the pelvis and compresses the ribcage, while the arms raised up to the hold the ball set the shoulder girdle to its most complicated aspect. Today it finally began to behave, although I lost many good qualities along the way. Hopefully the next session with the model helps bring it all back to life.